Wagon-gear.



E. EINPELDT.

WAGON GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1.1905.

IlVI/ENTOR WITNESSES.

'PATENTBD FEB. 20, 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

EMIL EINFELDT, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO BETTENDORE METAL WHEELCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF IOWA.

WAGON-GEAFLJ Application filed August 1, 1905. Serial No. 272,148.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMIL EINFELDT, of Davenport, county of Scott, andState of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in WagonGears,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wagon-gears, and has reference moreparticularly to the construction and form of the tongue-hounds and themanner of connecting the tongue with the front gear, the objects beingto so arrange the parts that the draft of the animals hitched to thetongue will have a lifting tendency, so as to relieve the neck-weight ofthe tongue and so as to apply the draft at the most advantageous pointfor effective work.

It has been attempted heretofore to ac complish these objects byhitching the draftanimals to the under side of the tongue through themedium of a doubletree applied beneath the tongue in order to bring thehitch below the connection of the tongue with the wagon; but thisarrangement has many disadvantages, mainly in the difficulty andawkwardness encountered in removing the doubletree or in disconnectingthe team without unhitching them from the doubletree, as is frequentlydone when the team is to be temporarily used for other work.

The chief aim of my invention is to secure a low hitch of the draftanimals to the tonguethat is, a hitch below the point of connection ofthe tongue with the wagonso as to secure all the advantages of this lowhitch and at the same time preserve the advantages of having thedoubletree on the upper side of the tongue.

With this object in view my invention .consists in so forming thetongue-hounds and in so connecting them with the wagon that the uppersurface of the tongue at the point where the draftanimals are hitchedwill, when the draft is applied, be at a lower level than the point ofconnection of the tongue with the wagon, so that the draftanimalshitched to a doubletree or other draft device on the upper side of thetongue will act with a lifting tendency, will relieve the neck-weight onthe animals, and will apply the draft to the greatest advantage.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention the tongue-hounds areextended downward at a point in front of the draw-bolt which connectsthe tongue-hounds with the gear-hounds, and the tongue is so connectedSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Feb. 20, 1906.

with the downwardly-extending hounds that its upper surface will, whenthe draft is applied, be below the axis of the draw-bolt.

Other forms of embodiment of my inven tion may be adopted, however,without dearting from the limits of my invention, provided that theoperation and results are substantially as indicated above.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of suchportions of the wagon-gear as are necessary to illustrate my invention,showing the tongue connected and the parts in their preferred form. Fig.2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional elevation through the same.

Referring to the drawings, in carrying out my invention in itspreferred-form, which in practice has been found to answer to asatisfactory degree the results to be attained, I apply to the tongue Anear its rear end tongue-hounds B B, which extend rearwardly andoutwardly and along the inner faces of the front gear-hounds C C, thesaid hounds being connected together. as usual,by a horizontaltransverse draw-bolt D, extending through them and suitably confinedagainst escape, this bolt constituting the connection between the tongueand the wagonear.

C The tongue-hounds are preferably formed of angle-iron with the anglesdisposed inwardly, and they have their front ends applied to the uppercorners of the tongue, to which tongue they are firmly fixed by hori=-zontal bolts 1) b,extending through the side flanges of the bars andthrough the tongue.

The foregoing parts maybe of the usual and ordinary construction and,except in so far as hereinafter indicated, they form no part of thepresent invention.

Instead of extending the tongue-hounds in a straight line from theirrear ends to their points of attachment to the tongue, as heretofore, Icurve or bend them downward, as shown at E E, the downward bendbeginning at about the front end of the gearhound's and terminatingwhere the tonguehounds are fastened to the tongue, so that the uppersurface of the tongue will be below the axis of the draw-bolt when thetongue is in a substantially horizontal position, such as itusuallyoccupies when the draft-animals are hitched thereto and areapplying the draft.

At its end the tongue is firmly braced to the hounds and held fixedly ina central position with relation to them by means of a horizontalcross-plate F, bolted to the upper side of the tongue and provided withupturned ends ff, seated against and fixed to the inner faces of theside flanges of the hounds.

The draft-animals are hitched to the tongue through the medium of thedoubletree G, applied to the upper side of the to .igue, as usual, andconfined thereon pivotally by a doubletree-pin g.

On reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that by reason of the downwardcurvature or drop of the tongue-hounds their forward ends, where theyare connected with the top of the tongue, are at a considerably lowerlevel than their rear ends and that consequently the upper surface ofthe tongue where the doubletree is pivoted is considerably beneath theaxis of the drawbolt,. In a wagon-gear of normal size a drop of thehounds, such as to bring the upper surface of the tongue one inch belowthe axis of the draw-bolt when the tongue extends horizontally orsubstantially so, as it does when the draft is applied, has been foundsufiicient in practice to answer fully the results aimed at. It ismanifest, however, that the degree of curvature or bend of the houndsmay be varied to meet the varying conditions encountered in practice asto the form and size of the parts, the nature of the work to beperformed, and other circumstances.

I prefer, as shown, to confine the bend or curvature of the hounds tothat portion of them beyond the gear-hounds, so that where thetongue-hounds and gear-hounds work to gether they will have a long andflat bearingsurface but it is obvious that this relation of the partsmay be changed and that other details may be variously modified withoutdeparting from the limits of my invention.

It is manifest that my invention is not limited in its use in connectionwith a doubletree applied to the upper side of the tongue, although thisarrangement is preferable. The invention is applicable also in connection with the doubletree otherwise applied for instance, on the underside of the tongue, as heretofore. Such an arrangement, while possessingcertain disadvantages, would, in connection with thedownwardly-extending tongue-hounds, increase the lifting tendency of thedraft-animals, inasmuch as the hitch would then be lower than if thedrop of the hounds were alone depended on to effect the low hitch.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a wagon-gearand in combination with the front gear-hounds, tongue-hounds, a draftconnection between said hounds, and a tongue sustained by thetongue-hounds with its axis in an unchanging plane relative to thegear-hounds with its upper surface, at the point where the doubletree isapplied, ex-

tending at a lower level than that of the axis of the draft connectionwhen the tongue is in a horizontal position.

2. In a wagon-gear and in combination with the front gear-hounds,tongue-hounds having their rear portion elevated and their forwardportion depressed and in a different plane, a drawbolt connecting theelevated portion of the tongue-hounds with the gearhounds, and a tongueconnected with the depressed portion of the tongue hounds at a point infrontof the draw-bolt and extending rearwardly beneath said draw-bolt.

3. In a wagcn-gear and in combination with the front gear, tongue-houndsconnected with said gear and extending forwardly and downwardly belowthe connection, a tongue connected with the downwardly-extending portionof the tongue-hounds, and having its upper surface at a lower level thansaid connection when the tongue is in a horizontal position, and adoubletree applied to the upper side of the tongue.

4. In a wagon-gear and in combination with the front gear-hounds,tongue-hounds extending for a portion of their length along thegear-hounds and then extending beyond said gear-hounds downwardly, aconne'ction between the gear-hounds and the tonguehounds, and a tonguefixed to the downwardly-extending portions of the gearhounds.

5. In 'a wagon-gear and in combination with the front gear-hounds,tongue-hounds extending downwardly at their forward ends, a draw-boltconnecting the tongue-hounds, in rear of their downwardly-extendingportions, with the gear-hounds, a tongue fixed to thedownwardly-extending portions of the gear-hounds, and extendingrearwardly beneath the drawbolt, and a connection between the tongue andtongue-hounds in rear of their downwardly-extending portions.

6. In a wagon gear and in combination with the front gear-hounds,tongue-hounds connected therewith and extending forwardly and downwardlywith the forward portion of the hounds in a different plane from therear portions, and a tongue connected with the downwardly-extendedportion of the tongue-hounds.

7. In a wagon-gear and in combination with the front gear-hounds, atongue, tonguehounds connected with the tongue and bent upwardly andextending rearwardly in a plane above a plane of the tongue, and apivotal connection between the elevated portion of the tongue-hounds andthe gear-hounds.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, this 11th day of July,1905, in the presence of two attesting witnesses.

EMIL EINFELDT. Witnesses:

M. LOUISE DODGE, ANDREW NEILSON.

